The semi-weekly fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1887-10-18
Farm and Garden Notes.

Straw and unpalatabe hay should
never be covered with brine to induce
cows to eat more.
GIycerine and water, in equal parts, is
an excellent dressing for horses hoofs to
prevent undue brittleuess.
Some recommend to poison, trap or
shoot every ground squirrel you can, be-
ieving them as mischievous as rats.
No oil penetrates wood so we'll as
crude petroleum, none is so cheap, and
none so effective as preservative.
The apple crop has not 80 generally
failed, taking the country together,
within the memory of the oldest inhabi-
tant.
Hay in ricks or stacks can be very
cheaply covered with plain lumber
boards, and the cost of doing so saved in
one or two seasons.
Where the larve of potato bugs begin
eating the vine, but are stopped, the
plants put out new leaves, and does its
best to repair damages.
The New York Tgi6une says a good
COW fed only on pasture will always pay
double the cost of four or five pounds of
bran daily in milk or butter.
The earlier manure lying around the
barns is applied to some growing crop,
the less plant food will be given to the
air and the adjoining stream or slough.
Farmers should remember that head
work saves great deal of hand work,
md if Systematically performed relieves
the routine of life of some of its dull
ness.
Fall planting of trees has strong ad-
foe Il
and where a planter has given that fair
trial his favorable testimony, as rule, is
secured.
One thing dairymen in this country
generally neglect: that is to curry their
COWS as well as feed them. Cows well
cared for will pay the interest on mort
gage, and attack the principal bravely.
Mr.. Sampson says it is a good idea to
plant gOoseberries among the rows of
currants. The currant worm will always
prefer the goOsoberry, and the latter
bushes alone need be treated to bellebore.
Peach trees that have made good
growth since spring need no other fertil
izer than wood ashes. Wood ashes are
also good for healing a pear tree which
bears spotted or cracked fruit. Sprinkle
the ground we'll beneath the tree so far
as the branches extend.
Tie Chicago Times remarks that ''the
general employment of machinery on
farms has exerted an unfavorable inf1u-
ence on small fruit culture, landscape,
vegetable and farm gardening" Mixed
farming and horticultural pursuits are
certainly more in the line of ''Small"
than large farming.
If mich cows be fed upon dry hay it
cannot be expected of them to give full
supplies of milk, for without succulent
food the udder cannot, except upon a
limited scale, carry on its milk secreting
operations. In view of these facts every
farmer should make it part of his bust
ness to raise a sufficient quantity of
beets, carrots and parsnips to give each
mllch-cow on his farm half -bushel daily
during the winter and early spring.
No vegetable has been more improved
than the common tomato. Forty or
more years ago they were seedy, watery
and of little value. For time the chief
attempt to improve them was in securing
extra early varieties. Now tirmness of
flesh and comparative freedom from seeds
are bred for. Some of the best varieties
have so much substance in their flesh
that they make excellent preserves. For